Job Satisfaction and Motivation Study of

International Journal of Human Capital and Information Technology Professionals
Volume 11 • Issue 4 • October-December 2020
Job Satisfaction and Motivation Study of

Distinct Gender Perspective in IT Sector
Vinita Sinha, SCMHRD, Symbiosis International University, India
Shashi Bhatt, SCMHRD, Symbiosis International University, India
ABSTRACT
Organizations function as social systems where human resources are the most vital factors for
performance and success. They have realized the need for a motivated and diverse set of employees
to achieve milestones at an accelerated pace. At the same time, women in the male-dominated
information technology industry are perceived to face unique challenges and use distinct coping
strategies affecting their motivation and retention. Both primary and secondary data was collected for
the research work. Secondary data was collected from journals, newspapers, magazines on the subject
and the internet sources. Primary data was collected from the IT professionals of both genders. The
primary instrument for data collection was a survey through structured questionnaire (see Appendix).
The method used in the study was random sampling. Collected data was processed, analyzed, and
interpreted to draw the valid inferences. Gender perspectives on motivating factors, changes in HR
policies for IT professionals, strategy and tactics are suggested to address the situation.
Keywords
Diversity, Gender Perspective, Glass Ceiling, IT Industry, Job Characteristic Theory, Job Diagnostic Survey,
Job Satisfaction, Motivation
INTRODUCTION
Every company is driven to success by its workforce and the fuel that keeps the workforce in prime
form are job satisfaction and motivation. There are many aspects that come together to create job
satisfaction such as working conditions, growth, opportunity etc. A satisfied employee is motivated
to do better. Every employee is different and unique so their job satisfaction and motivation needs are
different too. Wiley (1997) argued that employers must understand what motivates employees; they
must also emphasize employees’ satisfaction. This is essential to improve productivity and ensure
organization’s success (UK Essays, 2015). Furthermore, Lange et al. (2006) Employers often try to
categorize employees based on experience, job profile, designations etc. to create a strategy to ensure
they are satisfied in their jobs and motivated to achieve more. However, it is a tight rope walk when
it comes to balancing the needs and privileges associated with gender.
The present study attempts to analyze the issues of opportunities and constraints the women
employees face in the Information Technology sector in India. IT sector, through its employment,
contributes substantially to women empowerment. Its employment potential provides inspiration
to female students to take up technical and professional courses with an eye to the job market
Bhattacharyya and Ghosh (2012).. Hence, this study will try and identify if there is a gap between
the perception and reality of both genders with respect to their job satisfaction and motivation levels.
The gender perspective at various levels of management will also be explored with respect to job
DOI: 10.4018/IJHCITP.2020100101

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satisfaction and motivation. The study is unique as it utilizes the ‘Job Characteristic Theory’ proposed
by Hackman and Oldham (1975) as a tool to calculate the MPS (Motivating Potential Score) of two
Gender working in IT. Sector to find out if the score is significantly different to be considered by the
policy makers to re design the working environment of the diverse workforce so as to engage them
better helping to perform at their best. As effective HR function can always make a positive difference
to the company’s recruitment policies by creating and managing diversity in the workplace.
Job motivation and satisfaction affects the productivity, performance and commitment of the
employees in every organization. Hence, understanding factors affecting motivation and job satisfaction
is essential.
The research undertaken by academics at the Management College of Southern Africa concluded
that organizations can be successful in creating meaningful products only if their staff is satisfied
and well- motivated to do the assigned work.
The study Mancosa (2017) also reveals that happy employees are more enthusiastic and
display high levels of performance and productivity. While disgruntled employees show signs of
low productivity, turnover and frequent absenteeism from work. Hence, there is a need for internal
organizational research to determine the relationship between motivation, job satisfaction, teamwork
(both gender), group dynamics, leadership and employee performance.
According to Gracia and Cheekay (2005) the gender of employees tends to significantly affect their
job motivation and job performance in the workplace. Women often find themselves in rooms full of
men whether we look at startup founders, investors or people in computing and technical roles. Bimba
and Kaliyamoorthy (1991) describes the glass ceiling as the invisible barriers of women employees
when they can see their elite positions but they cannot reach them. This glass ceiling effect makes
the women feel that they are not worthy to hold higher positions in the organizations. The unfulfilled
career expectations among women can spread depression and stress which can be demotivating.
As per the recent Report by National Association of Software Services Company (NASSCOM)
(2017) number of women employees in the $155-billion IT industry has gone up to 34 per cent, as
companies seek to improve their gender diversity ratio. The important factors encouraging women
workforce to participate in IT sector are: a white-collar job with comparatively high salary, gender-
neutral policy based on knowledge-centric skills possession, easy international mobility, flexible
work routine and physically less demanding work process in comfortable indoor work- environment
(Shanker, 2008; Bhattacharyya and Ghosh, 2012).
A sizeable proportion of women employees are available at entry levels but still a lot of them do
not make it to the top. Women in IT roles are 45 percent more likely than men to leave in their first
year, according to a 2014 US study. The study found that the potential issues beyond pay and promotion
include a hostile or sexist ‘brogrammer’ culture, as well as workplace policies not suited to women,
such as marathon coding sessions, expectations around not having children, and lack of childcare.
“We have a lot of women employees who drop out post maternity or due to lack of support from
their family,” said Partha Sarkar, CEO of Bengaluru-based Hinduja Global Solutions.
The term “diversity” has evolved over the years. To some employers, it involves taking advantage
of what people from different generations can bring to the table and to others, it means including a
mix of males and females in the workplace. There is impression of stereotypical image for women
employees on the part of employers, team lead and male colleagues results in marginalization of
women at the workplace especially during the time of project deadlines (Upadhya, 2006), other
constraining factors include recruitment and promotion filters for selection of certain “social types”
(Shanker, 2008), lack of mentors and want of network for women at higher position (Kelker et al.,
2002), etc. Non implementation of women sensitive flexi-time policy etc. further hampers promotional
prospects of women software professionals (Upadhya, 2006). Therefore, it becomes important for
organizations to embrace diversity.
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LITERATUE REVIEW
Employee Motivation
One of the most crucial factors that lead individuals to their goals is the motivation. The drive or
motivation may come from an internal or external source. If managers can understand the driving
force behind its employees, they can tailor job assignments and rewards accordingly that can keep
them in high spirits (Singh and Tiwari, 2011).
Motivation is an area that is widely researched. Halfway the twentieth century, the important
motivational theories arose, namely Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1943), Herzberg’s two-factor
theory (1959) and Vroom’s expectancy theory (1964). Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory
explains the role motivation plays in actualizing a goal. He emphasizes that it is the responsibility
of employers to provide a workplace environment that encourages and enables employees to attain
their own unique potential (self-actualization). In the past years various definitions of motivation
were defined, e.g. Herzberg (1959) defined employee motivation once as performing a work -related
action because you want to Maslow and Herzberg look at the relationship between internal needs and
the resulting effort expended to fulfil them, whereas Vroom’s expectancy theory (1964) separates
effort (which arises from motivation), performance, and outcomes. The theory deals with motivation
and management and suggests that behavior is the conscious choice between given alternatives. The
purpose of these choices is to maximize positive feelings and minimize negative feelings. In his
discovery, he found that an employees’ performance is determined by factors such as personality,
skills, knowledge, experience, abilities. According to Vroom an individual will behave or act in a
certain way because they are motivated to select a specific behavior over other behavior.
Wylie (2004) has studied an interesting viewpoint, according to which members of management
primarily should be able to maintain the level of their own motivation at high levels in order to
engage in effective motivation of their subordinates. Llopis (2012) as a contributor in Forbes, through
an article, highlights about the increasing relevance of the work-life balance problem for modern
employees and stresses its negative impact on the level of employee motivation.
This perspective is based on the theoretical framework of Hierarchy of Needs proposed by
Abraham Maslow (1943), according to which a more basic human needs need to be satisfied first
before serving the next level need in order to motivate the employees.
Employees Motivation, Job Satisfaction and Job Performance

Vroom in his definition on job satisfaction focuses on the role of the employee in the workplace. He
thus defines job satisfaction as affective orientations on the part of individuals toward work roles
which they are presently occupying Vroom (1964). Celik (2011) defines jobs-satisfaction as a general
expression of workers’ positive attitudes built up towards their jobs. Aziri (2011) in his study reveals
that job satisfaction represents one of the most complex areas being faced by today’s managers when it
comes to managing their employees. According to him there is a considerable impact of the employee
perceptions of the nature of their work and the level of overall job satisfaction. There is a view by
Biri and Gervase (2014) that if an employee’s job motivation is high, there is the possibility that
the employees’ level of performance will improve. Therefore, organizations will have to constantly
consider their employee’s motivation. Low levels of motivation can be costly to an organization as
the organization may suffer from low morale of workers, poor performance, decreased productivity
and in fact higher costs of hiring and training. According to Bruce and Pepitone (1999), motivation
can be used to improve employee performance and productivity. But also propose an interesting
viewpoint according to which managers cannot motivate employees; managers can only influence
what employees are motivated to do. In the opinion of Malik (2010) motivating the employees is a
necessary step that every business owner should take to succeed which encourages better performance
and productivity on the part of employees. Which in turn helps the company to enjoy the benefits and
profit. But as per a recent study by Heathfield (2017) every person is motivated. As per a case study
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by Singh and Tiwari (2011) on relationship between motivation and job satisfaction of the white-collar
employees, they observed a positive correlation between motivation and job satisfaction. Research by
Thulaseedharan and Nair (2015) describes that day by day competition is increasing which compels
today’s managers to provide more job satisfaction to the employees. This makes corporates to employ
all sorts of techniques to motivate and satisfy their employees.
Relationship Between Gender, Job Motivation and Job Performance

The strong association has been established between motivation and job performance as most studies
emphasize that high job motivation leads to high job performance. Again, studies have argued that
gender seems to play a significant role in employees’ job motivation and job performance in some
professions Upadhya and Carol (2006); NASSCOM (2009).
What is Gender?
As per Garcia and Cheekay (2005), Gender is a broader concept and is not just limited to the biological
classification or differences but also encompasses perception of behavioral and value traits. Like
perception that man are masculine which further relates to better analytical capabilities and ability
to pursue science and technology streams. On the contrary woman are considered soft and nurturing.
Gender Equality/Inequality
Gender equality: The concepts that all human beings are free to develop their personal abilities
and make choices without limitations set by strict gender roles; and that the different behaviors,
aspirations and needs of women and men are considered, valued and favored equally (European
Commission’s glossary). Gender inequality is women having access to less resources and
opportunities. Garcia and Cheekay (2005) observed that politically gender issues are recognized
when there is support from broad public. The issues also get highlighted when the gender gaps
become large and women are aware of their democratic and human rights. As per (Joy and
Abbas, 2016), software firms appear to have highly enlightened managements, human resource
professionals and other top managers who are well aware about the importance of women friendly
workplace and providing equality of opportunity. Rothboeck et al. (2001) adds that the IT sector
offers greater ease of access to women workers than traditional sectors through its organizational
flexibility. The study also says that IT work environment is considered conducive for women
as it does not involve any physical exertion thereby allowing large-scale entry of women into
‘decent’ jobs and bringing fundamental changes in gender relations. At the same time, there is
a visible gap between formal company policy and real practice which leads to rampant gender
inequalities experienced by women at all levels.
Gender Discrimination
Garcia and Cheekay define Gender discrimination which leads to attitude and behavior pattern that
brings gender gap. Gender gaps are not accidental but are caused by discriminatory practices. Not
just social and religious practices but also certain government administrative rules, regulations and
even statutory laws can lead to such discrimination. Parcheta et al. (2013) in their study mention that
over the last 90 years women have battled to become equal with men in all aspects of life and work.
Women have made enormous advances in education and career but equality in pay and promotions
in the workplace still elude them. A study by Suganthiand and Senthilkumar (2016) mentions that
men and women are always two sides of the same coin. Each one of them has their unique charisma
and each one thinks and handles situation differently. While a man may be practical woman could
think farfetched. But it is still a shame that irrespective of being equally talented there is always
discrimination in the eyes of the beholder. Study by Bimbaand Kaliyamoorthy (1991) describes that
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our society is male dominated; male employees cannot accept women employees moving upwards
in the organizational hierarchy and try to create barriers in any from like discrimination, domination.
Motivational Factors for Distinct Gender

Jawad Ali (2019), by his research concluded that the factors motivating the women and men are
different for both as in the same work environment, women show higher job satisfaction, but lower
commitment levels as compared to men. As per Research Institute of Labor and Social Affairs, EU;
Dodd-McCue, University of Virginia, US women and men hold different perspectives on factors like
opportunities, bonuses and rewards. Different factors appeal to two genders and they also respond
differently.
Extensive studies indicate that basic and bonus rewards when provided as per gender preferences,
gives more satisfaction. As it is seen that men place a higher preference over ‘instrumental values’
compared to women who go for ‘softer issues’. Instrumental values cover basic salary and bonuses,
while inter-personal relationships at workplace, respectful treatment by the employer and a possibility
of reconciling work and family life, are all part of the softer issues (Vaskova and Renata, 2006).
Motivating the Workforce

Many other factors than money motivates the workforce to attend office every day and work with
complete determination. A behavioral economist Dan Ariely says firmly that we are also driven by
the meaningfulness of our work, by others’ acknowledgement — and by the amount of effort we’ve
put in: the harder the task is, the prouder we are. He also adds that usually when we think of labor,
we only think of salary and motivation. But truth is if we can add: meaning, creation, challenges,
ownership, identity, pride, etc., the job becomes more satisfying to the employee. Marc Burrage,
Managing Director, Hays Japan, in one of his blogs, 5 things that motivate your employees more
than money ‘mentions that for most of us, money’s more of a sub-motivator than a prime mover.
Information Technology and Women

Information Technology has widened the doors of employment opportunity in organized sector for
women. IT sector contributes substantially to women empowerment with its employment potential
and policies promoting gender equality.
A study by (Agarwal and Malhotra, 2016) draws conclusion that women constitute a sizeable
amount of the workforce in IT. However, mostly they come from a selected urban background with
high socioeconomic status as Information and Communication Technologies demands high educational
qualification.
The study of Bhattacharyya and Ghosh (2012) has drawn inference that the IT sector offers least
but not zero gender discrimination. It has not been possible for the women in IT sector to challenge the
structural inequalities and gender relations respectively at the workplace and at home. Study of Bimba
and Kaliyamoorthy (1991) reveals that women in corporate face many obstacles like work-family
conflict, harassment, gender discrimination. The major obstacle that hinders the performance or career
development of women employees is Glass ceiling. Shanker (2008) adds that yet women constantly
try to maintain a work life balance giving their best at workplace as well as home and expects some
help from their men. Bhattacharyya and Dr. Ghosh in their study also underlines the existence of
feminization or glass- ceiling in this industry; since the women workforce gets concentrated mostly at
the lower level of job hierarchy in the IT sector. But at the senior level, women representation is only
around 5 per cent. The reasons attributed to this are: (a) stereotyped female professional (b) personal
sense of mid-career guilt and (c) proverbial “glass ceiling” (NASSCOM-Mencher Report, 2009).
Also, Cheng, 2015, describes that the percentage of women working in the major tech companies is
remarkably consistent at around 30% and shows significantly fewer women in leadership or technical
roles influencing the company’s product development or strategic direction. This fact is supported by
Parchetaet al. (2013) as well as (Agarwal and Malhotra, 2016) in their studies by depicting that the
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number of women and men in workforce is almost same in low and mid-level management positions
which is not the case with top management positions. Similar findings by Shanker (2008) in his study.
Constraints to Women Techies

Study by (Agarwal and Malhotra, 2016) portrays that women’s employment are affected by patriarchal
society, factors which are gender specific such as their responsibilities for household work and
childcare. Along with social and cultural norms, the location of company also limits the mobility of
women. Today women have to prove themselves in a disproportionately biased industry and society.
A study from the Australian National University suggests that the healthy work limit for women is
34 hours a week compared to 47 hours per week for men, due to the extra time women spend on
domestic duties. But often they are expected to work for longer hours which in turn can impact their
productivity and career growth. Also, Lazzaro (2017) in his research found that women in tech face
sexism and harassment. Tech is blatantly unfriendly to family planning, from being pregnant to nursing.
Female Retention Issues

IT industry body Nasscom in its report points out that corporations with at least 10 per cent women
on company Boards have 2.5–5 per cent higher returns on equity and firms where women are at least
30 per cent of C -suite have 15 per cent higher profitability than others. But women in IT roles are 45
percent more likely than men to leave in their first year, according to a 2014 US study.
Multiple studies have found that attrition spikes for women in tech at about age 35. After 10
years of work experience, 41% of women in tech leave the industry, compared with 17% of men.
According to a study by the Center for Talent Innovation, 80% of women in SET report “loving their
work”. Yet 56 percent leave their organizations at the mid-level points (10-20 years) in their careers.
Nearly half of the women who left the SET private sector continued to use their technical training in
jobs in other sectors (e.g., non-profit, government, or startup companies). The remaining 31 percent
stayed in the workforce but took a non-SET job, sometimes at the same company but more often at
a different company (Ashcraft et al., 2013).
WOMEN EMPLOYEES: STRATEGIC ADVANTAGE AND GDP PERSPECTIVE
India has a larger relative economic value at stake from advancing gender equality as per a McKinsey
Global Institute report, The power of parity, 2015. Advancing women’s equality can add $12 trillion to
global growth. India could add $700 billion of additional GDP in 2025, upping the country’s annual
GDP growth by 1.4 percentage points.
“Like all relationships there is a lot to be gained by having a difference of perspective. A male
+ female conversation and viewpoint can often lead to complimentary progression which aids in
achieving milestones at an accelerated rate”, says Espree Devora; Founder of the upcoming Women
in Tech Podcast, (Strasser, 2015) .Studies show that companies with different point of views, market
insights and approaches to problem solving have higher sales, more customers and larger market share
than their less-diverse rivals (Cheng, 2015). Hence, companies can better reach diverse customer
audiences or gain an advantage over the competition that embraces change and understands the need
of having both gender the part of workforce.
Distinct Skills
According to experts, women are great communicators and possess strong networking skills. While
men lack in understanding one’s unspoken words or emotion, women decode verbal cues and body
language easily. Morality, transparency or following ethics at workplace, are again some of the traits
of women which makes them do every job with fairness. If more women are involved in the workforce,
then the chances of unethical business will reduce considerably. Reddy (2017) through his research
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concludes that women are blessed with the power of sensing any sign of danger before it invades and
effortlessly manage. As per (Suganthi and Senthilkumar, 2016), mostly women employees are good at
handling the new tasks in a very efficient way. But due to the ego clashes or personality differences,
the women employees are not able grow. Only very few women executives are able to flourish well
in the competitive corporate world.
HR Policies and Practices

HR has an unprecedented opportunity to ensure that women are well- represented in their organizations
and paid fairly (Onley, 2016). As per Ursula Mead, CEO and founder of InHerSight, as long as HR
isn’t committed to gender diversity and doesn’t practice it religiously, nothing is going to improve.
HR initiatives can help provide further transparency at the selection and promotion practices. “What
HR needs to do now is influence senior leaders to make this a strategic priority for the organization’s
selecting and recruiting process,” said Nicaud. Gender-focused human resource policies and practices
signal an organization’s perspective on gender diversity. If an organization values gender diversity
and comes up with a gender-diverse workforce. It results into a firm with a competitive advantage
which should result in higher performance (Ali, 2013).
Agarwal and Malhotra (2016), in their study recommends that Policies should be framed to
make it mandatory that women constitute one third of resources in all companies, large or small.
Government must come up with a greater number of hostels for the working women in Tier 2 and
Tier 3 cities giving utmost priority to safety and security. Non-governmental agencies can also be
instrumental in these activities. Implementation of gender inclusive policies will help in tapping more
women workers and reduce attrition rates.
METHOD
Research Problem
Organizations are social systems where human resources are the most important factors for
effectiveness and efficiency. Organizations need motivated employees to achieve their objectives.
Motivation is the key driver that pushes the performance of the employees towards excellence. Job
motivation affects the productivity and performance, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment
of the employees.
Hence, it’s important to understand if the workforce (males and females) in IT. differs in their
perspective on job satisfaction and motivational factors. This would help the IT. Organizations to
design the HR policies accordingly that can motivate both genders appropriately leading to greater
Job Satisfaction thereby resulting in better employee engagement and a higher productivity.
OBJECTIVES OF STUDY
1. To identify different distinct factors that motivates men and women employees;
2. To measure the jobs’ motivating potential score and identify satisfaction level of gender;
3. To understand the satisfaction level with respect to experience in IT industry, job role and
education among both genders;
4. To identify underlying gender perspective of motivation with respect to gender of leadership in
IT sector using MPS.
Keeping the above objectives in focus the following hypotheses have been formulated to methodically
test our understanding.
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Hypotheses
H1: There is no significant difference in the Motivation of Males and Females working in IT industry.
H2: Lack of Autonomy is the factor significantly affecting lack of Motivation for both genders.
H3: Satisfaction levels of both genders are similar for every level of job role in IT industry.
H4: Job satisfaction is not affected by the gender of reporting manager.
Sample
Sample of this study consists of 111 valid responses (out of total 151 responses received). The reasons
for considering some responses invalid are incompletely filled survey or respondent is not from IT
industry. Among the valid respondents 41 are female and 70 are male employees from IT companies
which is a good representation of the population in the IT industry that has between 33-38% females
in the workforce.
Tool
The primary method for data collection was survey through structured questionnaire. The first section
contained closed-ended, open-ended and Likert scaled questions to get the perspective of respondent
with regards to their experience in the IT industry. The second section of the questionnaire consisted of
‘Job Diagnostic Survey’. The Job Characteristics Theory developed by Hackman and Oldham (1975)
is administered on the sample to calculate the Motivating Potential Score (MPS) of female and male
respondents. The score obtained is analyzed for both the gender to find out the most contributing
motivating factors and draw inferences.
Scoring
The Motivating Potential Score (MPS) represents a summary score indicating how motivating is the
job. The first step in calculating the MPS is to complete the questionnaire, Job Diagnostic Survey
(refer exhibit 9.2):
Step 1: Following Scale was used to indicate whether each statement is an accurate or inadequate
description of the job:
1-Strongly Disagree
2 - Disagree
3 - Neutral
4 - Agree
5 - Strongly Agree
Step 2: After collecting responses for the survey, Scoring Key was used to compute a total score for
each of the core job characteristics:
Skill variety (SV) (items #2, 8, 11*, 14, 18*) = ___ /5 = ___
Task identity (TI) (items #3, 7*, 16*, 22) = ___ /4 = ___
Task significance (TS) (items #4, 13*, 20*, 23) = ___ /4 = ___
Autonomy (AU) (items #1, 9*, 17*, 21) = ___ /4 = ___
Feedback (FB) (items #5, 6, 10, 12*, 15, 19*) = ___ /6 = ___
Step 3: MPS was calculated using the formula shown in Figure 1.
Jobs that are high in motivating potential must be also high on at least one of the three factors. If
the work’s autonomy score is zero, then the MPS would also be zero. MPS is completely dependent
on autonomy and feedback. An employee whose motivation is completely absent would not perform
the tasks at all. When either of the two: Autonomy or feedback, scores a zero then MPS also comes
to zero. The other variables (skill variety, identity and significance) may only reduce MPS but not to
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Figure 1. MPS formula
zero unless the average score of the three variables is zero. A poor score in these three job dimensions
can only drag the value of calculated MPS towards but not zero.
Meaningfulness of work (variety, identity and significance), independence and responsibility
for outcomes (autonomy), and knowledge of results (feedback), all combine to lead to high intrinsic
motivation, work productivity, work satisfaction and less turnover and absenteeism in work.
DATA ANALYSIS, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Sample Profile
Out of 111 valid respondents 41 are females and 70 males which is representative of the population
in the IT industry which has between 33-38% females in the workforce. Majority of the respondents
are aged between 31 and 45 years. There is a huge similarity in the distribution based on educational
qualification of both genders. Almost all of the population is well educated due to the nature of the
industry.
51% of total female respondents and 57% of male respondents are from the middle management.
While equal percentage of male and female respondents in the Indian IT. Industry is working as
Individual Contributor.
Almost 85% of respondents have a male manager irrespective of their gender while only slightly
more than 15% have female managers. This is consistent with the fact that only 12% of the female
respondents were from senior management positions whereas the same for male respondents is 21%.
However, almost all respondents were comfortable reporting to opposite gender.
Almost same number i.e. 95 and 93 percent of female and male respondents respectively believe
in Gender equality. Negligible number of respondents either don’t believe or not sure about gender
equality. Significantly greater number of male respondents (80%) feel that men and women are
treated equally at their workplace than only 54% of female respondents feeling so. At the same time
a higher percentage of females (39%) feels that they are not treated equally at their workplace than
just 13% of male respondents feeling so. Whereas equal and very insignificant number of female,
male respondents i.e. 7% and 6% respectively are not sure about male, female being treated equally.
And 1% of male respondents even think they are treated equally for more than required.
MPS Calculation and Analysis

If a job gives a high score on five core characteristics: Skill variety, Task Identity, Task Significance,
Autonomy and Feedback; three psychological states are generated with a high probability of leading to
positive work outcomes such as high internal work motivation, high satisfaction with the work, high
quality work performance, and low absenteeism and turnover. the job characteristics model predicts
that motivation, performance and job satisfaction will be positively affected and the likelihood of
negative outcomes, such as absenteeism and turnover, will be reduced.
According to the equation for MPS, a low standing on either Autonomy or Feedback will
substantially compromise a job’s MPS, because autonomy and feedback are the only job characteristics
expected to foster experienced responsibility and knowledge of results, respectively. On the contrary,
a low score on one of the three job characteristics that lead to experienced meaningfulness may not
necessarily reduce a job’s MPS, because a strong presence of one of those three attributes can offset
the absence of the others.
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As shown in Table 1 the overall mean score for respondents in IT industry is 53.216 which is above
average. There is not much difference between average MPS of both male and female respondents.
Average Male MPS score is higher than Female MPS score by almost one point which is not very
significant. For both females and males, the job characteristics Task Identity and Feedback score
minimum.
Table 1. Scoring table
Category Skill Variety Task Identity Task Autonomy Feedback MPS

Significance
Female 3.815 3.567 3.866 3.817 3.528 52.606
Male 3.720 3.618 3.732 3.789 3.586 53.574
Combined 3.755 3.599 3.782 3.800 3.565 53.216
Table 2 indicates that the MPS score for the respondents is minimum when a male report to a
female manager and highest when a male report a male manager. Also, it is counterintuitive that the
MPS for female respondents to female manager is the lowest. Even the MPS for males reporting to
female manager is higher.
Table 2. Comparison table
Reporting Skill Task Task

Gender Autonomy Feedback MPS
Manager Variety Identity Significance
Female Female 3.771 3.393 3.857 3.643 3.452 51.520
Male Female 3.691 3.318 3.659 3.841 3.394 50.148
Female Male 3.824 3.603 3.868 3.853 3.544 52.829
Male Male 3.725 3.674 3.746 3.780 3.621 54.213
Male/
Female 3.722 3.347 3.736 3.764 3.417 50.682
Female
Male/
Male 3.761 3.648 3.790 3.806 3.593 53.707
Female
Irrespective of the gender of the respondent the MPS score decreases for female reporting
managers compared to male reporting managers. Task Identity and Feedback are the two factors
showing significantly low scores.
In Table 3 shows a similar trend of increasing average MPS with an increase in level of job role
for both male and female respondents. Average score for feedback shows a drop when moving from
individual contributor to middle management for females which is the primary reason for drop in
average MPS too.
When we compare the overall MPS scores of females and males, a wide spread can be seen for
females with MPS ranging from 33.891 to 76.473. Whereas for males the spread is just between
37.544 to 56.616 giving females a high MPS score in Senior management role and just above average
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Table 3. Job role comparison
Job Role Gender Skill Task Task Autonomy Feedback MPS

Variety Identity Significance
Entry Level Female 3.120 3.300 3.500 3.150 3.233 33.891
Individual Female 3.686 3.464 3.893 3.500 3.738 50.490
Contributor
Middle Female 3.800 3.571 3.798 3.881 3.317 48.675
Management
Senior Female 4.400 3.813 4.250 4.344 4.083 76.473
Management
Entry Level Male 3.533 3.250 3.417 3.083 3.556 37.544
Individual Male 3.520 3.450 3.450 3.400 3.389 42.855
Contributor
Middle Male 3.780 3.663 3.738 3.938 3.721 57.883
Management
Senior Male 3.817 3.771 4.146 3.958 3.389 56.616
Management
MPS score to males in same position. In senior management role females have significantly higher
MPS compared to males.
Hypotheses Testing
1. There is no significant difference in the Motivation of Males and Females working in IT industry.
Ha1: The difference in average MPS of Females and males working in IT industry is 2.5 points
or more.
Average MPS of female respondents is 52.606 while for male respondents is 53.574 (refer table 4.2.1).
The difference is 0.968 which is less than 2.5 points. Hence, the null hypothesis, H01 gets accepted,
which indicates that there is no significant difference in the Motivation of males and females working
in IT Industry.
2. Lack of Autonomy is the factor significantly affecting lack of Motivation for both genders.
Ha2: Autonomy score is the lowest among all the factors affecting MPS for both males and females.
The average score for ‘Autonomy’ among female respondents is 3.817 and among male
respondents is 3.789 (refer Table 1). The average score for ‘Feedback’ among female respondents is
3.528 and among male respondents is 3.586 which are lower than the respective scores for ‘Autonomy’.
Hence, the null hypothesis, H02 gets accepted.
3. Satisfaction levels of both genders is similar for every level of job role in IT industry.
Ha3: The difference in average MPS of females and males working in IT industry with respect
to level of job role is 2.5 points or more.
11
Table 4. Job role and gender difference
Job Role MPS Difference

Female Male
Entry Level 33.891 37.544 3.653
Individual Contributor 50.490 42.855 7.635
Middle Management 48.675 57.883 9.208
Senior Management 76.473 56.616 19.857
As per the data in Table 3 and Table 1, at every level of job role the difference in average MPS
between male and female respondents is greater than 2.5 points. Hence, the null hypothesis, H03
gets rejected.
4. Job satisfaction is not affected by the gender of reporting manager.
Ha5: The difference in average MPS of employees working in IT industry reporting to female
managers and male managers is more than 2.5 points.
Table 5. Reporting manager’s gender
Reporting Manager MPS

Female 50.682
Male 53.707
As per the data in table 2 and table 4, the difference in average MPS between respondents reporting
to male and female managers is 3.025, which is greater than 2.5 points. Hence, the null hypothesis,
H01 gets rejected. Table 5 compares the reporting manager’s gender and MPS.
KEY FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
There have been some interesting findings from the primary and secondary research. The research
comes up with very insightful views from across the industry indicating the effect automation will
have in near and far future:
1. Almost 95% of IT employees believe in Gender equality;

2. While 80% of males think females in IT industry get equal treatment only 54% females share
the opinion;
3. For factors like working hours, work load, opportunities and promotions more males than females
believe their employer provides equal treatment regardless of the gender;
4. When it comes to work-life balance almost 60% females believe it’s more difficult for them to
maintain it while only 44% males believe the same. Only 7% females and 17% males believe it’s
difficult for men to maintain work-life balance;
12
5. While almost half the females believe lack of work-life balance affects their productivity at
workplace more than it affects men only 17% men feel they are affected more than females when
it comes to productivity at workplace due to poor work-life balance;
6. Overall motivation of male employees in IT is slightly higher than female employees though the
difference is not very significant;
7. While almost all employees perceive they are comfortable working with opposite gender the
motivational scores for males reporting to female is found to be lower than males reporting to
males. However, for females the trend is opposite;
8. Males reporting to female managers are the least motivated followed by females reporting to
female managers. Primary reason for the same is lack of feedback from the manager;
9. Males reporting to male managers are motivated the most followed by females reporting to male
managers;
10. Both genders feel they have more autonomy when reporting to manager of opposite gender;
11. Job satisfaction and motivation increases as employees move up the corporate ladder. Females
in senior management positions had the most job satisfaction and motivation score followed by
males in senior management position. Females in entry level position had the least score followed
by males in entry level position.
NASSCOM says that roughly 35% of the workforce in the Indian IT industry are women.
Gender plays an important role in employees’ job motivation and job performance Men place a
higher value on the ‘instrumental values’ (basic salary and bonuses) as motivational factors. Women,
on the other hand, place more importance than men do on ‘soft issues’ like inter-personal relationships
at the workplace, respectful treatment by the employer, and the possibility of reconciling work and
family life. More women than men feel undervalued compared with male/female colleagues in the
same position in the company. Presence of prejudices and glass ceiling as a major barrier of women
employees in career. Women executives often are highly dissatisfied due to glass ceiling and often
choose to leave the corporate world in order to escape its effects.
The IT industry is getting a sizeable proportion of women employees at entry level but a lot of
them do not make it to the top and drop out post maternity or due to lack of support from their family.
There are advantages of including both gender who can bring different perspectives and experiences
into the fold. Empathy, intuition, emotional intelligence, passion and optimism of women work towards
the benefit of the company. Gender diverse companies are 15% more likely to outperform those that
are not. Potential issues beyond pay and promotion include a hostile or sexist ‘bro-grammar’ culture,
as well as workplace policies not suited to women. The more educated a woman is, the wider the
gender pay gap. The gap increases as women advance in their careers. The industries with the highest
percentage of women on boards are technology, media, and telecommunications.
Proposed Model: Job Satisfaction Model

The model displayed in Figure 2 has been derived based on the findings and of the present study.
Job Satisfaction Model

The model for job satisfaction above uses the factors from job characteristics theory. The factors and
their influence on job satisfaction have been looked at from a new perspective in the model based
on the outcome of the research.
As per the model, job satisfaction is an outcome of the interaction of all the factors with respect
to an individual. Job factors like skill variety, task identity and task significance are directly driven
by the job role the individual does, various activities involved in their day to day deliverables, the
recognition they get for their efforts and how their efforts transform into the output for the firm.
Reporting manager is a key participant in the model as the individual’s interaction with reporting
manager has a major impact on the job satisfaction level. The level of freedom to make decisions and
13
Figure 2. Job satisfaction model
prioritize tasks becomes important for the individual when going about the day to day tasks. Too much
of micromanagement by reporting manager may reduce the autonomy. While on the other extreme
if the reporting manager is not involved enough with the individual then it may cause the individual
to feel let down. Regular feedbacks from the reporting manager, constructive criticism and coaching
are critical to ensuring the feedback loop is closed.
An important finding from the study is that gender of the individual as well as the reporting
manager has a huge influence on the transaction between the two. The gender of both participants
being same has a positive effect if they are male but has a negative effect if they are female whereas
both having different gender is not as effective as a male-male transaction.
Work culture becomes the influencing agent deciding the positive or negative outcome of the
transaction between the individual and reporting manager. This model doesn’t include the effect
of individual’s interactions with other colleagues and subordinates specifically because they are
considered to be having an influence on the job factors (skill variety, task identity and task significance)
as these are relative to the team members and role in the team.
CONCLUSION
With more than one-third of the workforce in IT industry being females it is imperative to understand
if and how they differ from the male workforce when it comes to job satisfaction and motivation.
The study has thrown light on many aspects of the gender perspective in IT industry, some of which
are counterintuitive.
Males have a slightly higher MPS compared to females. This is expected considering the difference
in perception between genders with respect to equal treatment at the workplace. Since more females
believe they are not treated equally compared to males the motivational score is expected to be affected
14
by this. Autonomy and Feedback are factors that influence the motivational score significantly and
a low score in either of these factors can bring the overall motivational score down. However, skill
variety, task identity and task significance are factors that have a combined effect on motivation score
therefor a low score in any one of these factors does not pull down the overall motivation score unless
all three factors have a low score.
While almost everyone perceives they are comfortable working with opposite gender the study
shows that males reporting to male managers have better motivational scores compared to males
reporting to female managers. This is expected due to the existing social biases. But one would
expect females reporting to female managers to show higher motivation than females reporting to
male managers however the study shows the reality to be the opposite of it. The common expectation
is for the female manager to be more conscious of the existing inequality in the treatment of female
employees and thereby providing them with a more conducive environment that would motivate them.
However, employees reporting to female managers have scored lowest for “feedback” resulting in a
lower MPS. Another interesting observation is that both genders have a higher score in “Autonomy”
when reporting to the manager of opposite gender. Which indicates to the fact that the score for
“Feedback” is significantly different for female and male managers compared to “Autonomy”.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Customized leadership and team management trainings for female managers in order to improve
their ability to give feedback;
2. Create HR policies conducive to promoting a work culture aligned to gender equality at all level
of management resulting in motivation among female employees to climb the corporate ladder
within the organization;
3. Hiring and promotion policies to be aligned with work culture to ensure skill, qualification and
efforts precede Gender;
4. Specific retention plans for female employees to ensure reduction indropout rates as we go up
the management level;
5. Have more females in board of directors as well at senior management which will bring in more
female perspective in strategy and policy making;
6. Both men and women have their own, unique strengths. Hence, organizations must be cognizant
of those strengths and create an environment affording greater job satisfaction and commitment
level.
Limitations and Future Scope

The study could have been conducted for a longer period with a wider sample to include more data
from individuals. Survey could be supplemented with personal interactions to substantiate the data
collected and get individual perspective similar study for other industries can be carried out to put
conclusions of this study in perspective. A comparative study of Western and Indian IT Industry
with respect to their work culture can be taken up to understand the underlying forces resulting in
current situations.
15
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APPENDIX
Questionnaire on – job satisfaction and motivation: distinct gender perspective in it sector!
1. Age (in years)?

a. 18-25
b. 26- 30
c. 31- 45
d. 45 above
2. Current level of education
a. High School
b. Graduation
c. Post- Graduation and Above
3. Which of the following represents your experience?
a. Fresher
b. 0-1 years
c. 1-5 years
d. 5-10 years
e. Above 10 years
4. Which of the following represents your job role?
a. Entry level
b. Individual Contributor
c. Middle Management/ Team Lead
d. Senior Management/ Leadership
5. Which sector are you working in presently?
a. Information Technology
b. Engineering
c. Healthcare
d. Manufacturing
e. Real Estate
f. Finance
6. Gender*
a. Male
b. Female
7. Do you believe in Gender equality?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Can’t Say
8. At your workplace, do you feel that men and women are treated equally?
a. Yes
b. No
c. More than required
d. Can’t Say
9. How do you think women are treated in the following areas compared to men? (1. Not equally- 5.
Equally)
a. Flexibility in working hours
b. Workload
c. Opportunities
d. promotions
10. Your Reporting Manager is _______________ .
18
a. Male
b. Female
11. Are you comfortable reporting to opposite Gender?
a. Yes
b. No
12. Who according to you finds it more difficult to maintain work-life balance?
a. Male
b. Female
c. Can’t Say
13. Difficulty in maintaining work-life balance affects productivity in office more for?
a. Male
b. Female
c. Can’t Say
14. What problems have you experienced in your professional life because of your Gender? (Choose
as many as applicable)
a. Lower Salary
b. Poor Workplace Treatment
c. Lower chance of Promotion
d. Sexual harassment
e. Less likely to get a specific job role
f. None of the above
15. What can the management do to address the above concern(s)?
_____________________________________________________________________
16. What about your workplace makes you look forward to Monday morning?
Job Diagnostic Survey

Please respond to the questions in this section as per your current job role.
Kindly consider the following while giving your responses:
1 - Strongly Disagree
2 - Disagree
3 - Neutral
4 - Agree
5 - Strongly Agree
______ 1. I have almost complete responsibility for deciding how and when the work is to be done.
______ 2. I have a chance to do a number of different tasks, using a wide variety of different skills
and talents.
______ 3. I do a complete task from start to finish. The results of my efforts are clearly visible and
identifiable.
______ 4. What I do affects the well-being of other people in very important ways.
______ 5. My manager provides me with constant feedback about how I am doing.
______ 6. The work itself provides me with information about how well I am doing.
______ 7. I make insignificant contributions to the final product or service.
______ 8. I get to use a number of complex skills on this job.
______ 9. I have very little freedom in deciding how the work is to be done.
______ 10. Just doing the work provides me with opportunities to figure out how well I am doing.
______ 11. The job is quite simple and repetitive.
______ 12. My supervisors or co-workers rarely give me feedback on how well I am doing the job.
______ 13. What I do is of little consequence to anyone else.
19
______ 14. My job involves doing a number of different tasks.

______ 15. Supervisors let us know how well they think we are doing.
______ 16. My job is arranged so that I do not have a chance to do an entire piece of work from
beginning to end.
______ 17. My job does not allow me an opportunity to use discretion or participate in decision making.
______ 18. The demands of my job are highly routine and predictable.
______ 19. My job provides few clues about whether I’m performing adequately.
______ 20. My job is not very important to the company’s survival.
______ 21. My job gives me considerable freedom in doing the work.
______ 22. My job provides me with the chance to finish completely any work I start.
______ 23. Many people are affected by the job I do.
Vinita Sinha is currently a faculty (OB&HR) at Symbiosis Center of Management & Human Resource Development,
A constituent of Symbiosis International University, Pune, India. She is doctorate in Psychology. Having completed
master’s in psychology with specialization in OB she also holds Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource
Management, Post Graduate Diploma in Health Psychology & Behavior Modification. Her areas of interest in
teaching and research stretch out in Psychology, OB & HR, evolving trends in management and education, viz--
social media, accreditation, psychological issues at work, quality aspects of work, psychological well-being, work
stress, role stress, attrition trends, etc.
20

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International Journal of Human Capital and Information Technology Professionals

Volume 11 • Issue 4 • October-December 2020

Job Satisfaction and Motivation Study of

Employees Motivation, Job Satisfaction and Job Performance

Relationship Between Gender, Job Motivation and Job Performance

Motivational Factors for Distinct Gender

Motivating the Workforce

Information Technology and Women

Constraints to Women Techies

Female Retention Issues

WOMEN EMPLOYEES: STRATEGIC ADVANTAGE AND GDP PERSPECTIVE

HR Policies and Practices

Figure 1. MPS formula

DATA ANALYSIS, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

MPS Calculation and Analysis

Table 1. Scoring table

Category Skill Variety Task Identity Task Autonomy Feedback MPS

Table 2. Comparison table

Reporting Skill Task Task

Table 3. Job role comparison

Job Role Gender Skill Task Task Autonomy Feedback MPS

Table 4. Job role and gender difference

Job Role MPS Difference

4. Job satisfaction is not affected by the gender of reporting manager.

Table 5. Reporting manager’s gender

Reporting Manager MPS

KEY FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

1. Almost 95% of IT employees believe in Gender equality;

Proposed Model: Job Satisfaction Model

Job Satisfaction Model

Figure 2. Job satisfaction model

Limitations and Future Scope

Questionnaire on – job satisfaction and motivation: distinct gender perspective in it sector!

1. Age (in years)?

Job Diagnostic Survey

______ 14. My job involves doing a number of different tasks.

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